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58
SERBO-BULGARIAN TREATY [chap. vi.
me. Serious and sincere in manner, he displayed much
tact during his stay in Sofia; he talked a great deal and
very willingly with the Bulgarian politicians, preserving
an attitude of official respect towards King Ferdinand ;
he treated Prince Boris with sincere good-fellowship ;
his manner was unassuming, yet perfectly dignified.
The Austrian Archduke, still quite young and
allowed for the first time in his life to go to foreign
parts—and on an official mission, too!—behaved with
exemplary modesty, always looking to his governor—
an ultra-correct Austrian General.
Finally Prince Leopold of Prussia presented the
really curious type of a Prussian officer half automaton,
half decadent. It seemed as if his every movement was
planned in order not to make creases in his extremely
well-cut uniform; even his conversation—if a few short
sentences uttered in a perfectly monotonous voice can
be called "conversation"—seemed to belong to some
ingenious German machine. This Prussian Prince had
at one time found special favour in the eyes of the
Emperor William, who revived for him the grade of
Field-Marshal-Colonel, in disuse since 1800. But on
discovering that no real ability was concealed behind
the military rigidity of the Prince, William was
disillusioned about his protege, and henceforth only
employed him in formalities. The sending of Prince
Leopold to the solemnities in Sofia emphasised the
German Emperor’s wish to show perfect coldness
towards Bulgaria and her Sovereign, though at the same
time displaying a great deal of correctness ; William
desired nothing from the Bulgarians and offered them
nothing. In Berlin the choice of persons to whom
missions of etiquette and ceremonial were entrusted
was always influenced by ulterior motives and certain
ideas, and in no way by the desire to please those to
whom they were sent. Amongst us, unfortunately, this
was never noticed and never well understood.
The festivities for the coming of age of Prince Boris
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